So, I’ve now been tagged by Gen X Finance for a Six Word Memoir meme. I figured I’d participate and be a good sport, but I will say that it’s tough to try think of the most important thing or things in your life and put it into six words. So, I’m not even going to try to distill my best words of wisdom down to six words, or even try to capture the central theme of this blog in six words (if it were that simple, I wouldn’t need to keep writing everyday). So instead I’ll just give a six word thought that I believe is important among other things. And here it is:

Living is Giving, Giving is Living.

That seems pretty redundant, and it may be, but I think it’s important both ways. Whether it’s giving of your financial means, your knowledge and experience, your time, or anything else, giving to and helping others is really what makes life worth it. More important than anything we can accumulate are the people in our lives and the relationships we build with them. And there’s no better way to feel alive than by giving of whatever you have.

So there you have it. Six words (really only three) that are important to me. I believe I’m supposed to tag others with this meme, but I don’t usually do that, so if you feel so inclined to post your own six word memoir, consider yourself so tagged…

My wife sent me an email the other day with an excerpt from Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, a book by Brian Tracy. After reading it, I thought it would be worth sharing with all of you:

The Great Truth:

“You can learn anything you need to learn, to accomplish any goal you can set for yourself.” This principle offers a way for you to take complete control over your future. When I was young and struggling, failing and frustrated, this principle came along to change my life.

Generally speaking, no one is smarter than you, and no one is better than you. Just because someone is doing better than you doesn’t mean that he is better than you. It usually means that he has just learned how to succeed in his particular field before you have. And whatever someone else has done, you can probably do as well.

This is not an easy rule, but it is definitely simple. You, too, can learn anything you need to learn to accomplish any goal you can set for yourself.

This is something that I know I agree with, but hadn’t heard put so succinctly before. So take it for what it’s worth.

Last night as I was working on a few things (including this blog) I had the show American Idol on in the background. I don’t really get that wrapped up in the show, but I don’t mind having the music on in the background. Last night, however, wasn’t the usual weekly show, but it was instead the yearly Idol Gives Back show complete with all of the stars and musical performances.

Having it on in the background got me to thinking again about the importance of generosity and the impact for good it can have on others’ as well as our own lives. I understand that it can seem counter-intuitive for a financial blogger to espouse the giving away of money, but I guarantee you that it’s one of the most fulfilling things that you can ever hope to do with it. There are few things you could spend your money on that will make you feel better about yourself.

I’m not trying to convince anyone to give specifically to the Idol Gives Back promotion, it’s just what got me to thinking about the subject. There are so many various ways that you can give of your money, time, or other means for the benefit of others. All you have to do is find a cause that you’re passionate about, and you’ll know where to go from there.

When it comes to the subject of giving and generosity in general, I always think of one my favorite phrases, something we’d all do well to keep in mind: Remember, Living is Giving.

If you’ve worked in the corporate world for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard your share of complaining. So many people are quick to point out the negative side of things and just straight up complain about how things are operating. I often wonder what progress people hope to make through all of this complaining, and the best I can figure out is that it’s an outlet for their complacency and lack of drive to change.

I have also seen this type of attitude in many people’s personal lives. It doesn’t matter what situation this type of person finds himself in, he can find something to complain about.

I have noticed that this type of behaviour is very contagious as well. All it takes is one person to get the ball rolling and soon everyone is complaining because no matter how “bad” it may be for someone, it’s always worse for someone else. I’m sure you’ve all heard these types of conversations. They perpetuate with phrases such as, “…at least it’s not [insert next complaint here]”, and “if you think you’ve got it bad, [again insert another complaint]”.

It takes a conscious effort not to join in with the masses when it comes to complaining. We definitely don’t need to be the ones to start complaining, but we also need to be aware enough not to continue down that path with others. It has to stop somewhere, and it might as well be with us.

So instead of focusing on the negative side of things, you’re energy would be better spent on finding solutions. Finding a solution presupposes that there is an existing problem, but it’s a vastly different approach to the problem than complaining. It’s also worthwhile to note that successful people are that way because they find solutions to problems and implement them instead of just providing useless verbal commentary on the flaws of the current reality.

How many times in your life have you accomplished something that others have told you wasn’t possible? Perhaps you had even told yourself at one time that it was impossible. If you can say that you’ve accomplished such a thing at least once, when was the last time that you’ve done something extraordinary? If you haven’t yet had such an experience, you’ve got to ask yourself why not?

What Makes Something Impossible

I believe that every person has a different view of what is impossible. If you were to ask one of your co-workers what their view of the impossible is, it would most definitely be a drastically different answer from what someone like Donald Trump would say. Trump has already created an empire and developed high rise buildings as well as his own golf courses. Your co-worker may not have done anything more than work for a company for the last so many years. I’m not going to say that either of these experiences is inherently bad, but they provide a very different frame reference when one thinks of the impossible.

Varying Degrees of Impossible

As you look back on some of the things you’ve done in your life, there are probably some things that your younger self might have thought was impossible. As you progress through life, you’ll naturally develop various aptitudes and skills, and do things that you wouldn’t have ever thought you’d do. It probably doesn’t seem like much since it’s been very gradual over time.

The point I’m getting at is that our view of what’s impossible will inevitably change over time. Things will become easier and we’ll have more experiences to draw from as time marches on. Thus, our view of the impossible will be an ever changing boundary.

Managing the Impossible

We shouldn’t just accept our current view of the impossible. In order to become a greater and greater success we need to continually challenge our current view of the impossible. We need to keep pushing the boundaries and keep trying to improve everything we do. If we don’t ever challenge our current thinking we’ll never end up far from where we currently are. To put it succinctly, we need to manage our view of the impossible.

About a year ago I talked about my Mobile Universityand how it allows me to learn a lot more than I otherwise would be able to. Basically what I mean by this is that I listen to various audiobooks while I’m driving around. Instead of listening to the radio and hearing about the latest celebrity gossip, I’m able to learn about all sorts of things such as investing, entrepreneurship, business, leadership, and on and on.

Listening to these audiobooks has really been a great experience, and I feel much more productive throughout the day. Recently however, I haven’t had very many audiobooks and so it’s been hit or miss. I’m hoping to get back into it again since I really enjoyed doing it, and I’ve run across some audiobooks that I haven’t heard in a while as we were cleaning and organizing different parts of the house. So not only am I excited to go back to school and get my MBA, I’m also excited to start up my Mobile University on the way to and from work.

Yesterday was the start of the NCAA tournament, otherwise known as March Madness. Unfortunately my alma mater, Brigham Young University, performed like they always seem to and choked at the end of the game. Throughout most of the entire game, the score remained pretty close, but BYU just seemed to give up in the last few minutes. So now that I’ve lamented the loss of my team, what does it have to do with our financial lives?

All too often as we’re struggling to reach our goals, we choke shortly before we achieve them. We start out with great resolve, passion, and the desire to succeed, but at some point we give up and fall short. Here are just a few examples of what I’m talking about:

1. You’ve decided to start an emergency fund and you’ve been adding to it now for about 8 months. Watching the balance grow has been pretty exciting, and it’s now larger than you’ve ever had it before. After a while you start to think of all the things that you could do or buy with that money, even though you know that’s not what it’s for. Eventually you succumb to the temptation to raid the fund and use it to take a nice vacation or purchase that new TV you’ve been looking at. So what happened to the goal of having an emergency fund? Why did you choke?

2. You’ve managed to find some extra money each month that you’ve started investing. You’ve decided to purchase relatively simple investments at regular intervals. Things have been going rather well for you for the last while and again the balance has been growing. Then the time comes where the market starts to head south and your investments begin losing value. Eventually the pressure is too much for you to handle and you sell out of the investment so that you don’t lose any more. What happened to the long term investing strategy that you began with? Why did you later choke?

So you get the idea. Why do we so often give up on something that we started with the best of intentions? To eventually realize the goals you’ve set for yourself, you can’t choke along the way. Things will get difficult along the way, but you’ve got to give a hundred percent for the duration. So next time you’re thinking of giving up, remember that you decided not to choke.